Corporate Image has always promoted healthier living from non-toxic presentation materials to healthy lifestyles for our employees. Now we take that to the workplace!

As you have heard, sitting is the new smoking. According to doctors:

We lose two hours of life for every hour we sit, writes Levine, director of the Mayo Clinic-Arizona State University Obesity Solutions Initiative and inventor of the treadmill desk. Sitting all day is not natural and to blame for all kinds of ailments, including obesity

Scary. But we have the answer! Our new Sit/Stand desks keep us moving and active. Not to mention they are super fun and we will now apparently live forever.

Known professionally for his iconic contributions to the George Nelson office, including the 1949 Ball Clock, the Herman Miller logo, and the 1956 Marshmallow sofa, Irving Harper’s sculptures have never before been shared publicly. Curated by Katharine Dufault and Jeff Taylor, the exhibit opens Sunday, September 14, 2014, with a reception in The Rye Arts Center Gallery, 1:00-3:00 pm, and runs through November 8, 2014. The following essay is excerpted from Irving Harper: Works in Paper (Rizzoli, 2013) and is accompanied by our WHY DESIGN video profile of Irving Harper at his home in Rye, New York.

Also if you can get to the Rye Arts Center get yourself down to see the exhibit!

Are you going? Corporate Image is!

Come say “Hi” to us at Design Camp!

Want to know more? Read this:

We share a secret, an unspoken truth and desire for purity in aesthetics and context. To seek clarity in all things, no matter the level of detail. To find a meaning for all things seen and unseen, an agreement between logic and emotion.

We are bound to a creed, born with abilities and skills that few possess. To learn from those before us, decoding their messages and masterpieces. To gather and join our collective minds as one, building our language and honing our craft. To listen to the secrets of our peers whispered through the wind-washed pines.

AIGA MN Design Camp

October 3rd thru October 5th

Since 1980, Design Camp® has been AIGA Minnesota’s premier event and the largest regional design conference in the country. Held annually in early October at a lodge in northern Minnesota, this event sets the standard for design conferences across the country.

Design Camp provides an atypical conference structure, mixing indoor and outdoor activities with both educational and social events.

Design Camp lasts for three days. Campers arrive Friday morning for registration and depart Sunday afternoon. Five keynote speakers set the tone for camp, while small-group workshops and creative sessions follow each presentation. Attendees (referred to as “campers”) stay in lakefront cabins or golf-friendly condos and meet in the main lodge for events and meals. Friday and Saturday nights offer much socializing and tend to run late into the night.

The conference averages 350 total attendees, including campers, speakers, presenters, sponsors, and vendors. Campers come primarily from Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, and Canada. Most campers are graphic designers and art directors or involved in the graphic arts (photographers, illustrators, educators, copywriters, etc.)—but all are welcome.

Why this matters to you? Not only are we posting cool marketing pieces and eco friendly office equipment (which we are suckers for), but we also are posting great design, sustainable architecture and some garden stuff (which we are suckers for).

Since we are interested in design and sustainability, we have been checking out a lot of interesting items.

The first Tumbleweed home, built when Jay Shafer lived in Iowa no less:

2014 AIA Gold Medal Recipient

Julia Morgan, FAIA | 2014 AIA Gold Medal Recipient

By Zach Mortice, Managing Editor, AIArchitect

The American Institute of Architects Board of Directors on Dec. 12 posthumously awarded the AIA Gold Medal to Julia Morgan, FAIA, the early 20th-century architect whose copious output of quality work secured her position as the first great female American architect. Morgan is the first woman to ever be given the AIA Gold Medal. By receiving the award, Morgan was elevated to the College of Fellows. (The AIA National Board voted unanimously to waive the eligibility rules, in this instance, that require active membership in the AIA to be elevated to Fellowship.) The last posthumous AIA Gold Medalist was Edward Larrabee Barnes, FAIA, in 2007. The AIA Gold Medal is the highest honor the AIA confers on an architect. It acknowledges an individual whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture. Morgan’s legacy will be honored at the AIA 2014 National Convention and Design Exposition in Chicago.

AIA President Mickey Jacob, FAIA, notified Karen McNeil, PhD, a historian and Julia Morgan expert that was a member of the steering committee that sponsored her nomination, by telephone immediately after the Board made its decision. “Fantastic! Thank you so much!” McNeil said. “You’ve made my day. I’ll tell the team; they’ll be thrilled.”

In 2011, our Corporate Image binder won the award for “Best binder in the World” from Eskay Corporation in the Netherlands. In 2012, Eskay awarded another one of our binders, “Best Binder in North America” and for the 3rd year in a row, one of our binders has been recognized as the “Best Binder in North America”. We would love to take all the credit, but our part is to simply transform the outstanding graphics from our customers into beautiful presentation products. It is our goal to help you market and differentiate your customers and products. When you are successful, we are successful, as evidenced by our recent string of awards.

HOW again proved to be a great resource and inspiration for us at Corporate Image. This is the 16th year we have attended the conference. For starters, San Francisco was an excellent setting for expanding one’s perspective about design in general. It’s a town with a vibrant and diverse culture, architecture and landscape. HOW presents an important opportunity to connect with customers and new contacts to get feedback about our products, services, as well as learn about new design trends and presentation packaging needs in the marketplace. The role of print continues to evolve, but it is evident that it compliments and reinforces a digital strategy. Staying power continues to be one of the dominant goals of marketers and there’s nothing like getting a product or a promotional piece in the hands of the customer or prospect. The fact that it is tangible offers presence and credibility, which can be elusive in the digital world.

This year we showed a new binder that is a great solution for those projects or proposals which require extra visual appeal to make a positive impression. We call it a wiro-binder because it is designed to hold the wiro or spiral bound notebook in place with an attractive mechanism that slides neatly through the center of the round wire. It’s a simple way to dress-up your presentation. Our compact binder was a hit with attendees who liked it’s smaller size and ease of handling. It was designed originally to be the same dimensions of a tablet computer, so it could be conveniently carried in a backpack, briefcase or purse.

We look forward to next year’s HOW Conference, which will be in Boston again and offers a wonderful opportunity to explore for creative ideas.

Corporate Image will be on hand at this year’s HOW Conference in San Francisco to unveil a new product which will enhance your wiro bound proposal. We now offer a binder without a ring that can hold the wiro bound book in place, which makes a sharp looking and professional presentation when you want to make an impression on your audience. Instead of just handing out an important proposal, invest in communicating the best your brand or business has to offer to win the sale.

Our representatives Barb McChesney and Shane Percival will be available to show the new wiro book holder and answer your questions. This will be the 20th HOW Conference that Corporate Image has attended and we’re excited to be part of the creative community which gets together annually to network, educate and promote great design in the world. We’ll have samples of recent custom binder, folder and box projects to show to give you ideas about how your brand can stand out and get noticed!

Visit the HOW Design Conference web site to learn more about this year’s conference. Please join us for a fun, creative and inspiring time in SF. It’s your chance to connect with thousands of other designers, in-house managers, and freelancers.

Because Corporate Image specialize in printing only presentation packaging, we have the experience and the production capability to work with you to design and print custom direct marketing packages. Our successful track record in designing and producing direct mail packaging can help you avoid expensive mistakes. The sheer number of successful projects we’ve completed lets us steer your project away from trouble spots. Based on your ideas and specifications, we’ll collaborate with you to design a prototype and make a new die or we can help you select from our library of existing dies.

Spring finally comes to Des Moines

The flowering trees are always a welcome sight on the Corporate Image campus. Especially beautiful each year are the red bud trees as seen in this recent photo. The spring in Des Moines has been wetter and colder than usual, so we’re just beginning to enjoy the colors. The Corporate Image campus is comprised of 3 buildings that are surrounded by a wide assortment of evergreen and flowering trees.

Corporate Image has been helping support this effort over the last months and now the unveiling will happen!

More!: The May 17th event will include araffle of a custom bicycle donated by Ichi Bike (311 East Walnut, Des Moines) a canvas print of “Bike Club”; and a $150 gift certificate from Scheels All Sports and Scheels Hardware.

Polk County Health Department to Host Unveiling of Inspirational Artwork by Local Artist On May 17th, from 5-8pm the Polk County Health Department is hosting a reception to unveil the first of six paintings to be completed over the next two years. “Bike Club” is a 6′ x 11′, oil on canvas painting by local artist, Dick Shook, of a group of cyclists making their way along a rural bike path. The series of paintings is intended to motivate visitors to be more physically active.

Shook said that the project was conceived following a visit with his wife to the clinic for a flu shot. He told his wife, “this place needs artwork.” Then he began to work through what kind of art that would be. “We spend an enormous amount of time waiting and it seemed to me we could improve on that time by using art to do more than merely decorate the walls.”

Working with Polk County Health Department director, Rick Kozin, Shook developed a series of concepts that would invite people to make healthy lifestyle choices. Kozin reported,”We know from the research that clinical medical services (seeing a doctor) is not the main factor in what makes us healthy or not. Having a supportive community environment that makes the healthy choice the easy choice is much more important. With this art our waiting room becomes a supportive environment and not just a waiting room.” According to Kozin, more than 20,000 people visit the Health Department each year.

Among the paintings to be completed are images of skipping rope, strolling, yoga, swimming and playground activities, overall about 210 square feet of canvas. Shook said, “What I’ve wanted to do is to show how various kinds of simple and accessible activities can enrich our lives and encourage a habit of regular, enjoyable, exercise.”

One of the early sponsors of the wellness-oriented public art is the UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Iowa. “We are supporting this project because this inspirational artwork depicts healthy lifestyles that can motivate people to live healthier lives – not only when they visit the Polk County Health Department but also in their everyday lives and in their communities,” said Nancy Lind, executive director for UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Iowa.

The Metro Arts Alliance is receiving funds in behalf of Dick Shook’s Art Initiative. Donations can be made online through a link at www.dickshook.com or www.metroarts.org. The May 17th event will include araffle of a custom bicycle donated by Ichi Bike, 311 East Walnut, Des Moines; a canvas print of “Bike Club”; and a $150 gift certificate from Scheels All Sports and Scheels Hardware.